I used to be in TK Maxx at least once a week. That is until I bought a few skincare and haircare items that just weren’t the kind of products I was used to getting from there and stopped going in quite so regularly, choosing to shop online for skincare and haircare instead.

I supposed it was fair enough I wouldn’t know all the product names, you don’t always recognise the brand names either but I have come to expect a higher priced item for a deal and have been lucky enough to find Mrs Rodial, Elemental Herbology, Lange Paris, Opalex, even Balenciaga discontinued fragrance which was a real find in my local TK Maxx store.

I made a special trip today for some day and night cream hoping to find a bargain. This time I was a bit more savvy and had in mind the items I was looking for, not open to try yet another item I’d never heard of.

With my criteria narrowed and my mind a little more closed off following a few precious mistakes, I came home empty handled and I think I have discovered why.

I found this massive jar of Ketatin anti frizz hair mask, DiVa hair care, not a brand I’d heard of like Kerastase, Phillip Kingsley or Dr. Barbara Sturm which would have been an absolute bargain for £7.00 but it did look amazing.

Diva haircare laboratories is a TK Maxx line or product range not a range created and sold independently as far as I can tell.

The place was packed, the queue was really long so while I was standing in line I did a bit of research on the hair mask only to discover it is not branded product at all but it looked like a product created for the TK Maxx audience.

Made me think about all the pots of face cream, neck cream, night cream and hair care products I’ve invested in still sitting at home on my bathroom counter that just didn’t measure up.

By the time I’d got to the checkout I’d figured out the £7.00 red clearance ticket wasn’t such a good deal after all as I could buy the exact same product directly from TK Maxx for £8.99. Not the £50 product for £7 I was imagining.

In it’s heyday TK Maxx used to be the place to snag the very best designer bargains, everything from luxurious skincare and haircare, to cashmere socks, la Perla and Wolford lingerie and Halston to Hilfiger PJ and silk nighties, I’ve shopped Alo to Varley in the athleisure department (the gold label section used to be packed full of high end couture brands too from Gucci to Altrazurra 5 years ago) these days, it’s certainly full to the brim with stocked shelves for the crazy Christmas rush but my advice check the brand names online before you buy into the strap “designer labels for less”

You’ll more likely than not find out, it’s a made for TK Maxx label that’s more good design, than good designer.

Don’t want to dis TK Maxx too much as I do actually really like the Charing Cross Road store, I’ve been to few special events there in the past and I have bought a lot over the years at some significant savings, things I’d never have been able to own except for the fact TK maxx took stock from the big name designers, however, it is a bit confusing now with products like Diva, not an independent brand in the same sense but stock produced by TK Maxx for TK Maxx. I guess they don’t want to put TK Maxx on the hair are, which would make things clearer for the customer, this one’s “not a designer brand for less”

I did shop today for my nieces and bought a load of inexpensive stocking stuffers, make up products, nail care, eyelash curlers, make up mirrors, sponges, hair and make up brushes, contouring sticks, eye shadow pallets and mascara sets, the kind of things teenage girls love to to explore with, stick on nails and fake eyelashes so TK Maxx is the perfect place for random inexpensive stocking stuffers.